First ‘BookFest & Prose Slam’ spotlights local authors

Sandpoint often pops up on the short list of art towns, thanks to the plethora of visual and musical artists who make it their home. Turns out, Sandpoint is a cradle of the writing arts as well, and an event coming Thursday, July 9, will bring at least a dozen published authors and three indie presses together for a signing, reading and social affair.

It’s dubbed the Sandpoint Summer Bookfest & Prose Slam, set for 5-7:30 p.m. in The Bernd building at 311 N. First Avenue downtown – former location of Coldwater Creek.

This first-ever community event is free and open to the public, and along with a “prose slam” of readings, offers the chance to visit with many of the town’s authors. They’re an industrious group who have written on a wide range of topics including novels, memoirs, regional history, hiking and recreational guides, photography and more in their published works.

The Bookfest is being staged by Keokee Books in collaboration with two other local publishers, Blue Creek Press and Lost Horse Press. The Bernd Barrel will be offering a no-host bar, and there will be light hors d’oeuvres.

The event will launch one brand new book, “Inland Salish Journey,” a history of the fur trade era in the Inland Northwest, by Mike Reeb. From another new book, photographers Jerry Pavia and Tim Cady will present a selection of images from “Selkirks Spectacular,” a photographic journey around the International Selkirk Loop.

Other authors attending to sign and read include Sandy Compton, essayist and author most recently of “The Scenic Route”; Bill Percy, an IndieFab national book of the year finalist for his first novel “Climbing the Coliseum”; Jim Johnson, novelist, “It is the Fall”; Bill Collier, memoirist, “The Adventures of a Helicopter Pilot”; Jane Fritz, “Legendary Lake Pend Oreille”; Jim Mellen, “Trails of the Wild Cabinets”; Marianne Love, “Lessons with Love”; Howard Petschel, “Stamp Counterfeiting”; and Tom Reppert, “The Far Journey.” Additional authors are invited but were not confirmed as of press time.